TY - JOUR
T1 - Very preterm, very low birth weight infants not admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, National Vital Statistics Surveillance Data, United States 2021
AU - Levecke, Madison
AU - DeSisto, Carla L.
AU - Womack, Lindsay S.
AU - Okoroh, Ekwutosi M.
AU - Cox, Shanna
AU - Kroelinger, Charlan D.
AU - Barfield, Wanda D.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
PY - 2025/8
Y1 - 2025/8
N2 - The objective of this analysis is to examine characteristics of very preterm (VPT), very low birth weight (VLBW) infants not admitted to neonatal intensive care units (NICU). In this cross-sectional study assessing VPT (<32 weeks gestation) and VLBW (<1500 grams) infants, we used birth records from the National Vital Statistics System, 2021. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) with modified Poisson regression models were used to calculate prevalence of infants not admitted to the NICU by selected characteristics. Among 38,693 VPT, VLBW infants, 10% were not admitted to the NICU. In the adjusted model, characteristics associated with a higher prevalence of not being admitted to the NICU compared with analytical reference groups included non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (aPR = 1.61;95% confidence interval [CI]:1.13–2.29), gestational age 22–24 weeks (aPR = 1.17;CI:1.08–1.26), vaginal delivery (aPR = 1.83;CI:1.73–1.94), and 5-minute Apgar score of 0–3 (aPR = 3.48;CI:3.18–3.82). Exploration of reasons infants were not admitted to the NICU may elucidate strategies to address barriers.
AB - The objective of this analysis is to examine characteristics of very preterm (VPT), very low birth weight (VLBW) infants not admitted to neonatal intensive care units (NICU). In this cross-sectional study assessing VPT (<32 weeks gestation) and VLBW (<1500 grams) infants, we used birth records from the National Vital Statistics System, 2021. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) with modified Poisson regression models were used to calculate prevalence of infants not admitted to the NICU by selected characteristics. Among 38,693 VPT, VLBW infants, 10% were not admitted to the NICU. In the adjusted model, characteristics associated with a higher prevalence of not being admitted to the NICU compared with analytical reference groups included non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (aPR = 1.61;95% confidence interval [CI]:1.13–2.29), gestational age 22–24 weeks (aPR = 1.17;CI:1.08–1.26), vaginal delivery (aPR = 1.83;CI:1.73–1.94), and 5-minute Apgar score of 0–3 (aPR = 3.48;CI:3.18–3.82). Exploration of reasons infants were not admitted to the NICU may elucidate strategies to address barriers.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105013416519&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0328916
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0328916
M3 - Article
C2 - 40794633
AN - SCOPUS:105013416519
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 20
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 8 August
M1 - e0328916
ER -